An 18th-century farm in the depths of rural Somerset might seem an unlikely crucible for cutting edge creativity, but Durslade farm, situated just outside the historic town of Bruton, is dramatic proof that even the most progressive contemporary art can flourish happily in an agricultural setting. The brainchild of Swiss gallerist Iwan Wirth and his wife Manuela Hauser, Hauser & Wirth is one of the major players on the international scene, with branches in London, New York, Zurich and – next year – Los Angeles. This rustic outpost, now known as Hauser & Wirth Somerset, is arguably the gallery’s most ambitious yet.

It is also a major and highly personal labour of love. In 2006 the Wirths bought a farmhouse and some land near Bruton with the idea of it being a weekend bolthole, but soon decided to stay for good, enrolling their children in local schools and setting down roots in the community. Three years later they bought Durslade and after extensive local consultations began a project which aimed, in Iwan Wirth’s words, “to connect art with life again”. Now Durslade’s neo-Gothic Grade II-listed farmhouse, barns, stables and outhouses have been painstakingly restored and converted into an arts and community centre and gallery space, with the addition of two more new-build, bespoke galleries and a quasi-ecclesiastical cloister designed by Laplace architects.

Now every cranny of this historical complex – much of which was constructed from fragments of the former Bruton Abbey and which more recently provided the location for the movie Chocolat – has been intriguingly colonised by art, with many illustrious members of Hauser & Wirth’s 50-strong, major-league artist stable strongly, and sometimes surprisingly, in evidence.

Artistic interventions range from Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist’s film created during her recent 12-month residency which presents a visceral exploration of Durslade and its grounds, projected directly onto the farmhouse walls through a hanging cascade of salvaged glass; to Phyllida Barlow’s riotous giant pom-poms which dangle in the spectacular raftered Threshing Barn, with a further procession of her exuberant sculptures filling the former stables and piling up in the piggery. There’s a Paul McCarthy bronze Ship of Fools in the farmyard, a colossal stainless steel pail by Subodh Gupta stationed near the dairy, and a giant Louise Bourgeois spider lurking in a courtyard. Two more Bourgeois eyes carved in black granite double up as (surprisingly comfortable) benches, and overlooking the entire complex is a giant oblique clock by Anri Sala – the Wirths are Swiss, after all.

But Hauser & Wirth Somerset is also much more than a novel and appealing site for its gallery artists: the Wirths have gone to considerable lengths to ensure that the whole concept is as relevant to the local community as it is to the international art world. Artworks aside, Durslade remains a working farm with its former engine shed housing a farm shop that specialises in home-produced and local produce. There’s an already-flourishing restaurant serving locally-sourced, seasonal food which is managed by the popular Bruton hotel and brasserie, The Chapel, and housed in a cowshed/dining room lined with food-related artworks from Iwan’s personal collection. This is complemented by an adjacent bar built from paint-daubed detritus reclaimed and salvaged from the surrounding area by the son and grandson of legendary German artist Dieter Roth.

Artists’ residencies take place in a converted maltings in the centre of Bruton with the artists staying in the Durslade farmhouse, whose raw plaster, brick and timber interior is adorned with such artistic flourishes as Paul McCarthy wallpaper, Rist’s film, Roni Horn’s photograph of stuffed birds and a dining room painted floor to ceiling by Argentinian Guillermo Kuicta. There’s also an extensive and carefully-considered outreach, events and education programme, much of which takes place in a former barn that can accommodate more than 100 people.

These wide-ranging activities span open house family Saturdays and a Soil Culture Residency as well as workshops with local schools, projects with the Prince’s Trust and a summer school with the Bristol Old Vic. There’s also a calendar of public events themed around “Art and the Garden”, which have as their catalyst the surrounding meadow-style gardens devised and planted by renowned Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, best known for his work on New York’s High Line.

All of the above is a particular boon for the inhabitants of Somerset who recently – and controversially – had to endure a 100 per cent cut to their arts funding by the county council. So far, the consensus from the surrounding community as well as from the artists and friends of Hauser & Wirth has been a resoundingly positive endorsement. The verdict on Durslade could be summed up by the Martin Creed white neon which shines across the facade of the farmhouse and declares that, strange as it may be to put contemporary art in cowsheds, EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT.